First Job
---- "You know, you really surprised me with how easily you accepted to go on this job with me. I thought I'd have to force you to come." Alina said to Parcel. The two had left the Guild and walked in silence on their way to the train station. After the train they got on started moving, Alina decided to talk to the man that irritates her. "Really? But there is a lost kitty somewhere. We have to find her quickly." Parcel responded showing sincere concern. Alina was shocked by the emotion that Parcel was showing. "Wow. Who'd have thought that you'd have such a weak spot for cats. I was not prepared for that." "It's not just cats. I love all animals. But I'm particularly fond of monkeys and cats. They are just so cute! ♥" Parcel affectionately responded while petting Subash. "Well, most animals. I'm not that big of a fan of dogs. Those are pretty much the only animals that I can think of that I don't like though." "You like all animals except dogs? Why would you draw the line specifically right there?" "I don't like how needy they are and such. I really hate how they jump on you too. Especially with big dogs. They are just annoying." "You really don't like dogs, huh? Well, I'll try not to bring it up again then." Alina said surprised by how passionately Parcel dislikes dogs. "Anyway, we'll reach our destination in a few hours, so get comfortable." "Blarg. Travelling is so~~ boring. Why don't we just teleport there? It would be so much FASTE~R!" "You said that when we were going to Lupinus Town too. If you can teleport, then I'd be all for you taking us there. I'd have preferred it if you did it before I had bought us these train tickets, but I'd take it if you could get us there right away. We're heading to Oshibana Town. Here, I'll get you a map if that'll help with you taking us there." Alina said getting up to grab a map. "Mehh." Parcel responded apathetically as he started to lie down on his seat. "I'm going to nap. Wake me up when we get there." "Wait wait wait! You complain about travelling, saying that teleporting would be better, then just wave off the idea when I say that I'd be willing to do that. It's really your fault that we have to travel like this. I can't use teleportation so if you want to teleport, you've got to do it yourself!" Alina ranted angrily at Parcel's apathy to his own complaints. "Mehh. By the way, why exactly are we going on this job together?" "Because the Master doesn't trust that you'll do any jobs if someone doesn't push you to do any." "Mmm..." Parcel said before falling asleep. ---- After getting to their destination, Alina woke Parcel up by punching him in the head. They then went to their employers house to get information on the job and started searching through the city for the lost kitten. They decided to search together instead of splitting up since Parcel said he would get lost by himself. Eventually they reached an abandoned, creepy looking building that was surrounded by dead trees. "Hmm, I guess this is the next place for us to check. I believe this is the disbanded Dark Guild Eisenwald's former guild building. I think that the local people are too scared to take the building down." Alina said to Parcel as they were walking up to it. "Hahaha it's so stereotypically evil looking. Do you think they were overcompensating for something?" "Probably. They likely wanted people to think they were more evil than they actually were." The two mages walked into the abandoned building and started searching for the lost kitten in it, when they saw a light coming from a room further down. "KYAA~~AA!!!" Screamed a high pitched voice from where the light was coming from. "Hmm, I thought you said this place was abandoned." "You idiot! Someone's in trouble. We have to see what's going on there." Alina scolded Parcel. She sneaked to the edge of the doorway to see what was happening in there. In the room, which appeared to be the guild hall as it seemed to be the largest room in the building, two men could be seen as well as a woman surrounded by fire. One of the men, the one closest to the fire, was a tall man with grey hair and wearing a mask. The other man was lying down on the ground and seemed to be dressed up as a boxer. Alina was about to cast a Wind Magic spell to put out the flames when Parcel walked into the room. "Hey. We're looking for a lost kitten. Have any of you seen one around here?" Suddenly realizing that they weren't alone anymore, the two men turned to look towards Parcel and Alina, who came out into the room together with her partner. "Shit! You idiot, I was about to save that girl when you gave our positions away!" "I don't care. That's not the job we took, and if we get in the way of these guys they probably won't tell us if they've seen the kitty. That's my priority." "Get your priorities straight, idiot! Splitting Wind!" Alina cast a spell by swinging her arm up towards the girl surrounded in flames. A quick blade of wind shot from her arm, splitting and putting out the fire. "Hey Ali, looks like some mages have stumbled upon our little hideout. You can take the guy, I want that bitch who put out my flames. Alright? You don't put a hand on her." The masked man said to his boxer friend. "Haha it looks like you're right Flint, and you can have her. I'll gladly take the guy." The one supposedly named Ali said to his partner as he stood up. "Sorry buddy, but we haven't seen any cat in this place. So how about you go a round or two against me. I've been pretty bored lately." "Oh God! You two have to save me from these psychos! They're going to kill me!" The woman screamed. The one called Flint walked in front of the hysterical woman while keeping his eye on Alina. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about our little companion. Well, I don't really need you any more, since I've got some more interesting prey now." Flint said as some fire came out of his mask. "Fire-Make: Prison!" Flint clasped his hands together, making the fire that came out of his mask to move behind him and form a sphere around the trapped woman. "AHHHHHH!!!" She screamed after getting surrounded by flames once again. After the screams stopped, the flames dissipated and a burnt corpse fell to the ground. "No thank you. I'm only really looking for that kitten. I'm not interested in fighting you. If you haven't seen it then I suppose that I have no business left here." Parcel said, turning to leave. "Fire-Make: Wall!" Flint clasped his hands together again, creating a wall of flames in the doorway that they entered through. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere. Not after that one put out my fire." "Looks like we're going to have to fight them, Parcel. It seems like they've already decided who they want to fight as well, so we'll just do some one-on-one fights." Alina was glad that Flint did that, because she could not forgive these guys, and she wanted to see how strong Parcel is even though she could have put out that wall easily enough. "Hey, you're called Flint, right? I'll fight you, and I'll even give you a handicap. I'm only going to use cutting wind spells against you, but if my partner beats your friend before I beat you, I'll fight you seriously." Alina said, walking towards the pyromaniac. This is perfect. I can practice my Wind Magic against this guy while seeing what Parcel's got up his sleeve. "You bitch! You're underestimating me? You think that you'll survive if you don't fight seriously?... NOT! Did you think I'd react like that if you told me that? Hoping that I'd get angry and easier to beat by provoking me? Hahaha! I don't care about that! I don't care about whether you fight seriously or not. All I care about is burning you to a crisp!" Shit. I did expect that telling him that would affect him psychologically. I didn't think he would be so crazy. This could be a bit of a difficult fight after all. "Wind Scythe!" Alina yelled, spinning around with her arms swinging at an angle, creating a blade of wind from her arms that fired at Flint. ---- "Ah~, you're really going to force me to fight you?" Parcel asked Ali as he walked towards him. "Haha of course. We've been here for a few days now and I've been bored as hell. Flint's been killing his boredom by killing people, but that doesn't suit me. Meeting a mage is just perfect, so I can have a good fight." Ali said as he started hopping on the balls of his feet. "Now let's start the first round. Ding." ---- "Hahaha! You'll be my thirteenth kill since we've been stationed here four days ago, but burning a mage to death is worth a lot more than an ordinary person, so after I'm done with you I should be fine for the rest of the time that we need to be here. Now that I get a closer look at you, you're actually quite the looker. Just the type that begs for a burning. It was clearly meant to be!" Flint explained to Alina after avoiding her attack. "Fire-Make: Pummel!" Flint cast his spell causing multiple large fists of fire to attack Alina. "Shuriken!" Alina created small, spinning blades around each of her fingers that she threw at the fiery fists. After hitting the creations, the shurikens exploded into larger cutting winds, causing the fire to lose their shape and prevented them from coming any closer. "Fire-Make: Swallow!" Flint used the wind explosions to his advantage by having his flames grow larger in the wind and having it encircle Alina with the flames closing in on her. "Dart!" Alina said before blowing straight in Flints direction. The air turned into a sharp point of wind thrusting through the fire. Alina jumped through the hole that was created in the fire and kicked a blade of wind at Flint that managed to graze him before he dodged it, leaving a slight cut on his arm. He wasn't the only one that just barely managed to avoid the attack though, as Flints attack had burned some of Alina's shirt. ---- "Heh, you'd better be careful. One mistake and it'll be the end of you. You see these things on my shoulders? These increase the strength of my punches to insane levels. One punch will shatter any of your bones that happen to get in the way of my fist, and that's just the damage I'll do without any magic. When I use my magic, one hit is one kill, and I'm not nice enough to not use my magic." Yeah, he's not nice enough he says, right after explaining all that. Parcel thought to himself. "I guess this is really happening, huh? Damn, I hate fighting. It involves work." Right after saying that, Ali charged at Parcel head on with, throwing a punch right at Parcels head. However, Parcel managed to dodge it with surprising speed so instead of punching his head, Ali punched the wall behind him, which suddenly got destroyed by a huge explosion causing the entire wall to crumble. "Hmph, good job. You actually managed to dodge that. This may get pretty interesting." Ali said as he was turning around to face Parcel again when he saw a fist coming straight for his face from his periphery. Compared to what the Dark Mage could throw, this was painfully slow, so he dodged it easily at the last second, letting the punch go just inches from his face. He then jumped away from Parcel. "Really? You're going to try to fight me with punches? That's my special... Geh." Ali was interrupted when he spat up blood. What happened? I definitely dodged his attack. Parcel put up his fists with an apathetic look on his face. "Well? Are we continuing?" "Heh, interesting. Time to get serious. Let's go then!" Ali charged at Parcel, throwing multiple punches in quick succession making it seem like he had more than just two arms. However Parcel was keeping up with Ali's speed, dodging all of his attacks. Frustrated, Ali threw a big punch with an exaggerated movement, hoping that Parcel would take that opportunity to go for an attack himself. I'll get him when he thinks that I've got an opening. Instead of doing that though, Parcel jumped back from his punch. Did he see through my plan? How good is he? "Ah~, this is so tiring." Parcel said exasperated as he dropped onto his back. "I'm done with this fight." Pissed off at his opponent, Ali indiscriminately attacked Parcel with a full strength punch to his gut. This caused a huge explosion originating from the point of impact. "Shit. I didn't mean to attack him without him having his guard up. He just pissed me off too much. Well, I guess that's it then. Hey, Flint! Hurry up and finish that bitch." "Yeah yeah. She's putting up a decent fight, but she can't resist her urge to be reduced to ashes. The ritual has already started." "Shit! Parcel, are you okay!?" Alina cried out. Damn it. He was annoying, but I was starting to get used to him. He'd better not be dead. She tried to get to him, but Flint got in her way. "Hey, don't forget about our little dance, little girl." He said that, but he was also keeping an eye on the scene. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't go crying over there or anything." Parcels voice was heard coming from the smoke of the explosion. "What the..?" Ali said confused. Alina suddenly became pissed. She smiled with her eyes closed as a vein on her forehead started bulging. "You idiot! I wasn't about to cry for you or anything! It just looked like you blew up. If anything I was happy that I wouldn't have to go on anymore missions with you! Geez." "How is he fine after taking that attack head on?" Ali asked himself, still baffled, he looked on as the smoke began to clear. With the smoke gone, Parcel could be seen perfectly fine, lying in the same place as he was when he was attacked. The only thing that was different was that his shirt had been burnt from the explosion. "That fight went on too long, so I'm just going to nap here for now." Parcel said as he turned over onto his side. As he did that, a dark, swirling circle formed on his stomach which Subash came out of then it disappeared. Su climbed onto Parcels side, sitting there and watching everyone. "What do you mean you're going to nap? You're going to finish this fight." Ali said. "Take it easy on the guy, Ali. Look at him. His life is already burned out without me even doing anything. Don't worry, your life will get better! Things only get better from here!" Flint started to try and cheer up Parcel. "Hey! I thought we were fighting!" Alina shouted at Flint, raring to fight with her new found anger. "If you don't finish your fight with me, I'm going to team up with my partner and brutally kill your friend. If you don't want that to happen, you'll need to keep me interested in fighting you right now." "Meh. That's fine with me. It's not like we're friends or anything, we're just doing a job together. I've only met her the other day." "Whoa! How cold blooded are you? Well... If you don't care about that girl... Hmm?" Ali noticed Subash for the first time. "I don't know where this monkey came from, but he seems to be pretty chummy with you. And if I remember correctly, you were more concerned with finding that kitten than you were with saving that girl that Flint killed. Well then, if you don't want to fight me, then I'll just have to hold this monkey hostage. If you don't fight me, I'll just kill it instead." Ali said, reaching for Subash. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." "Hmm, I got a response from you this time, huh? Looks like I've found the right hostage." Ali said as he grabbed the emperor tamarin. Standing up after taking his small hostage, Subash got really upset and bit Ali. "Fuck! That hurts!" Ali screamed as he threw Subash away. Subash just landed on the ground then ran back up to Parcel who was standing up and climbed onto his shoulder. "You see, I said that I wouldn't do that because Su is very antisocial, so he bites anyone who grabs him other than me. And Su happens to have a poisonous bite that will paralyze those bitten." "What...? What kind of monkey has a poisonous bite?" Ali asked as he started to feel the effects. "And I didn't want you to get bitten because after threatening my precious Su, I was planning on fighting you seriously. Too bad though. I guess I'll just have to attack your paralyzed body to knock you out." As Parcel said this, it started snowing in the building. The snow then started to swirl around and moved around Parcels right arm. "Heavenly Strike of 1000 Souls: Separation of Body and Mind!" Parcel threw a powerful punch at Ali's chest with his right hand. When he struck the boxer, the snow spiraling around his arm shot out sending Ali flying from a swirling blizzard. "Huh, that seemed to work. Hey Alina, let's go. I'm done here." "Damn. My wind spells still aren't strong enough, Parcel won before I did. Well, like I told you earlier, if he beats your partner before I beat you, I'll fight you all out. After all, if I started by going all out, this fight wouldn't have lasted at all." "Ha! You think that you'll defeat me that easily? I'll just go all out as well and burn you right here and now. Fire-Make: Apocalypse!" Fire started swirling around Flint, then began to take shape into a giant body that surrounds him. "This is my strongest spell! You won't be able to survive this attack! But don't worry kid, I won't burn you. I believe you can make something of yourself." "Bubble." Alina put her hand out, casting an Air Magic spell that removed all the oxygen in the area around Flint and his flames, instantly putting his fire out. "What did you do? Huh? There isn't any fire coming out of my mask. What's going on... Kuhahooglbrgf." Flint started choking as he ran out of air and tried to breath in. Shortly he fell over unconscious from lack of oxygen. "Well that handled that. Lets tie these guys up and take them to the police." "God that sounds horrible. Su, you got a shirt for me?" Subash showed that he had a spare black t-shirt in his hands that Parcel took to put on. As he was putting on his shirt, Subash noticed something and jumped off Parcels shoulder and ran to the other side of the room. "Subash had an extra shirt for you? Did you know that you would lose a shirt?" "No no, nothing like that. I've just got a few extra sets of clothes stored away in the same place that Su goes to hide at times. Just in case." "And by the way, how did you survive that explosion?" "Eh~." Parcel said waving her off. "No. Don't give me 'Eh'. Tell me." "Eh~. Huh? You find something Su?" Subash was at a small crack in the wall on the other side of the room. Parcel jogged over there. "Is she in there?" Parcel got down and started calling into to hole. Just then a little kitten came out of the hole. Parcel picked her up and Subash jumped on his shoulder. "Good find there Su. So she was here after all. Well lets go take these guys to the police then. ♥" "Wow. Your attitude sure did change quick." "Of course. We've found our kitty. ♥" "You know it's not yours, right? We have to return it to its owner." "Yeah, but I want to keep her for as long as possible though. So lets take these guys to the police first." "You're really good with cats. It's just purring away in and sleeping in your arms... Wait, now that I think about it, didn't you say that you didn't care if they killed me!?" "What? Did you want me to lie?" "What the hell!? You get all fired up when someone threatens your monkey but don't even budge when it comes to me? Jerk!" "Whatever. Let's just have the police take these guys from us." As the two were leaving the building, a small, shadowy figure showed up out of the shadows. It took a look at the pair from behind, then disappeared in the darkness once again. ---- After dropping the two criminals off, and eventually making it back to their employer, the two Satyrs gave the kitten back, much to Parcel's disappointment. "Well, the next train that goes to Lupinus Town is an overnight train, so we'll have to wait for a while before we can leave. How about we get some food?" "Yeah, sure. I guess I'm hungry after that fight, or whatever. Si~gh" Parcel said deflatedly. "Hahaha what wrong with you?" "My precious kitty has been taken away from me. We only spent a small time together, but they were all precious moments. And why are you laughing at me? Huh?" "I don't know, but for some reason, seeing you so depressed makes me laugh. And geez, get over it. We barely even had that cat at all." Alina said, starting to get annoyed again. "Oh, by the way. Can I ask you something?" "Uh, sure, I guess." ""Heavenly Strike of 1000 Souls: Separation of Body and Mind? Where did you come up with that name?" "Hmm? I don't know. I just said whatever came to my mind. That was the first time I'd ever used that before." "Wow. You have one messed up mind." As they were approaching the restaurant they were planning on eating at, a young woman stepped in their path. "Bonjour. My name is Amélie Blanchette. I saw your performance, and I must say, you two were pretty impressive." The girl was short, with long brown hair and wearing a red dress. "So you were the one who was watching us, huh? Well, I was pretty spectacular in finding that kitty, if I do say so myself." Parcel responded to Amélie. "No, you idiot. She clearly meant our fights against those Dark Mages. Right, Amelia? But I'm impressed, Parcel. I didn't notice anyone watching us." Amélie looked down to hide her frustration as she started to get mad. Damn. I guess these guys are no good either. "I'm not surprised that you didn't notice it, what with how ignorant you are." Parcel chided Alina. "WHAT!? What's that supposed to mean?" Alina yelled angrily as Amélie was about to leave. "That means that her name isn't Amelia. It's Amélie." Parcel said with emphasis on her name. "Je suis très désolé. Bonjour madame Blanchette." Alina was so shocked, she was speechless. Amélie just blushed, then responded in kind. "Ah, monsieur Parcel, oui? Parlez-vous français?" "Un petit peu. It's been a while since I've really spoken any though." "Well Parcel, it was nice to meet you, and your ill-mannered friend. Au revoir." The young woman said before leaving as abruptly as she showed up. "What a rude girl, I hope we never see her again. And Parcel, you speak French?" "Ah, I used to go to a French school for a bit. Anyways, you were the rude one. When you meet someone for the first time, you should say their name right." "This, coming from you? Anyways, I thought I did say her name right. I thought that was just her accent." "Yeah yeah. Let's just get some food, alright?" ---- Late that night, sometime after the night train heading to Lupinus Town had already departed, two criminals were in the police station's jail cells while they were awaiting the Magic Council to pick them up and take them to appropriate cells, when a large, fiery inferno engulfed the entire town, originating from the police station. The blaze killed everyone in the town, with two exceptions. The two Dark Mages walked out of the fire without the flames touching them in the slightest. "Well, it's about time, eh Flint? We've been waiting here for too long just to burn this town to ashes. Let's head back to headquarters." "HAHAHAHAA! BURN! BUR~N! HAHAA!" Category:SuBash Category:Satyrical